Tomato blight or some other nasty? It was all going so well :(

[Russel Sprout]

OK. Got the foliage off and will get the potatoes out in a moment and see what's what.

Presumably I should dump the soil to be on the safe side?

Cheers

[vixylix]

Max my potatoes look the same as yours (almost eerily exactly actually!) and have been for a couple of weeks - and touch wood so far my toms are fine, so I'd say its probably no blight. However, I'd do as Baldy advises and cut them down anyway in your situation.

I wouldnt reuse the soil either - better to be on the safe side

[bario1]

I'd bung the soil in the compost bin or use it as a mulch for non edibles or something - i never dump soil.

[Russel Sprout]

That's very strange vixylix! You'll have to post a pic to see if we are in some kind of parallel universe!

bario1 - I feel the same and don't like dumping when I can help it (about once a day after breakfast will usually suffice). But seriously, if blight is airborne then wouldn't using the soil ANYWHERE in the garden be a big no no? Not that we know it is blight for sure; but if being on the cautious side...

[veggiechicken]

I never dump soil either.
You could dig a hole and bury it - or put it in a sealed bag while you think about it.
Blight spores survive on living matter so, as long as you have removed all bits of blighted material you should be OK to reuse it...................I would anyway!

[bario1]

As far as 'garden hygiene' goes, I err on the side of slack. Too lazy and stingy to bury, seal or dispose...

[Snadger]

Being in a comparatively blight free area I am not too sure of the correlation of keeping blighted material one year giving you blight the following year?
As its an annual airborne disease/fungi which depends heavily on which area of the country you are in and what the weather conditions are in that area, I wouldn't have thought so?

Likewise with soil/compost. If the spent soil was used for other purposes and not to grow any member of the Solanum family I can't see a problem.

[MarkPelican]

As I understand it,blight survives the winter in infected plant material, such as potatoes and haulm. The soil gives it nothing to live on. Therefore the soil should be ok.

Having said that, I don't put infected material into my compost at home and tend to use new compost or growbags for the top 9 inches in my tomato pots. Spend too much time with them to deliberately cause potential problems.

[Baldy]

This thread inspired me to take a look at my outdoor toms up at the plot...

Blast and dang it... blight has hit - there wasn't anything obvious last weekend but its hit hard now. I've pulled 25 toms that look green with nowt brown on them and put them on a windowsill - I'm very doubtful I'll get any that go red but worth it for the 'science'



The only positive is that they were all 'left over' plants and I've spent no money and barely any time on them... bleddy gardening

[Penellype]

I regularly reuse compost that has had blight (potatoes or tomatoes) but I don't grow either potatoes or tomatoes in it the next year, just to be on the safe side. Most years we don't get blight very early here, although it usually finishes the tomatoes off eventually, often in October, although last year it finished off my "Christmas" Charlotte potatoes in early September.

[Thelma Sanders]

Blight Oospores can overwinter in the soil, but haven't yet been found in the UK (up to 2015 the date of the article)

What are oospores?

If two different mating types come into close contact in an infected plant they reproduce sexually, generating oospores.

Unlike asexual spores, these can survive for many years in soil. Evidence suggests oospores have been responsible for many blight outbreaks in parts of the EU over recent years. So far none have been found in UK crops, although it is highly likely some recombination is taking place.

So it is important to look out for the common signs that will indicate that a blight outbreak possibly originated from this soil-borne source. This can be hard to identify, so the Potato Council has produced a guide to help growers on their website.

An early indication of infection from oospores will be many small lesions affecting lower leaves that are touching, or close to, the soil surface.
Infection may rapidly kill localised patches of young plants with stem-based symptoms and look particularly aggressive.

https://www.fwi.co.uk/academy/lesson...anding-blight1

[Lymmguineas]

This might be a silly question but....
Is the blight that affects potatoes the same as the blight that affects tomatoes?
Some of my maincrop potatoes had it and now it looks like one of my tomato plants has too.
Is the problem on my tomatoe plant likely to have come from my potatoes (they're only about six foot apart)?

[Russel Sprout]

Lymmguineas - I'm no expert, but from what what I understand - mostly certainly YES!

[Penellype]

Yes, potatoes and tomatoes are closely related and blight attacks both. Your tomatoes may have got it from the potatoes, or they may have got it from where the potatoes got it from, but the result will be the same.

[Russel Sprout]

Hi all

A quick update and a couple of questions...

RE the update. The potatoes were all fine when harvested and have been tasting lovely. So all good there. The tomatoes in the bed deteriorated rapidly so by a few days later the plants were all up and we now have an abundance of green tomato chutney! I love chutney, so it's not all bad. We've also had some success in a few green toms ripening on the windowsill.

Most of the tomato plants in pots are the bush variety "Red Alert". Whilst not looking in optimum health, they have not succumbed like all the others did and we are still getting lots of lovely juicy ripe tomatoes from them plants. Very pleasing It has left me wondering whether Red Alert are more blight resistant or whether it is just one of those things...

As to my question(s)... I was wondering what I need to do with the things that were used on the tomatoes badly affected by blight? Namely, the plastic pots, ties (made from old t-shirts), canes, etc. Is a good wash enough for them to then be safe for use next year? I'm assuming so based on the above comments RE blight only remaining on living matter, but I just wanted to ask to be sure. The whole blight thing was a bit heart breaking and I want to minimise the risk next year in whatever ways I can.

Many thanks for all the help with this, I really appreciate it.